Manitobans may be able to stay home for their next doctor's appointment.

On Monday, Doctors Manitoba and Manitoba Health announced an agreement allowing physicians to offer virtual patient visits through telephone and video appointments during the coronavirus pandemic. Individual doctor's offices will be deciding what they can offer via the service over the next few days.

"When it comes to the practicality, whether a clinic is going to offer a telephone visit or whether a clinic's going to offer a video visit, that's really dependent on the clinic specifically," said Dr. Fourie Smith, a family physician at Dakota Medical Centre in Winnipeg and president of Doctors Manitoba.

"The best thing to do would be for the patient to contact the family physician's office and say, 'Listen, I'm aware that this is now being offered. What would be the protocol your clinic follows? What will your clinic be offering us as patients?'"

With the growing concern surrounding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 disease outbreak, Smith said now is the time to have this option available to patients who don't need to be assessed by a doctor in person and have the ability to participate via phone or video conferencing.

Doctors in Saskatchewan started offering virtual appointments last week.

"The concept of virtual care is not new. It's certainly something Doctors Manitoba has been promoting for a while. What has only happened now is I think the matter has been brought forward much sooner than everybody has anticipated," Smith said. "It's certainly something we actually hope that we may be able to continue providing down the future."

Stay informed

He admits face-to-face contact would be preferred in an ideal world, but with the ongoing unique set of circumstances, it's important for doctors and patients to be open to a phone call or video chat. (For those unsure if it will work for their specific needs, Smith advises patients to contact their health-care provider.)

"We're going to try to make this available as broad as possible. From a hospital setting to a community clinic setting," Smith said.

"Obviously, the most practical area to think about for the average patient out there is a family community clinic, because we want to advance that advice that's been provided by the public health officials and not get patients to sit in an office if they don't need to do so."

Smith also offered up some advice Manitobans have heard frequently in recent weeks: "Wash your hands, stay calm, eat your vegetables, and make use of virtual care now that it's available."

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor AllenReporter

Eighteen years old and still in high school, Taylor got his start with the Free Press on June 1, 2011. Well, sort of.

Links

Your support has enabled us to provide free access to stories about COVID-19 because we believe everyone deserves trusted and critical information during the pandemic.

Our readership has contributed additional funding to give Free Press online subscriptions to those that can’t afford one in these extraordinary times — giving new readers the opportunity to see beyond the headlines and connect with other stories about their community.

To those who have made donations, thank you.

To those able to give and share our journalism with others, please Pay it Forward.

The Free Press has shared COVID-19 stories free of charge because we believe everyone deserves access to trusted and critical information during the pandemic.

While we stand by this decision, it has undoubtedly affected our bottom line.

After nearly 150 years of reporting on our city, we don’t want to stop any time soon. With your support, we’ll be able to forge ahead with our journalistic mission.

If you believe in an independent, transparent, and democratic press, please consider subscribing today.

We understand that some readers cannot afford a subscription during these difficult times and invite them to apply for a free digital subscription through our Pay it Forward program.

The Free Press would like to thank our readers for their patience while comments were not available on our site. We're continuing to work with our commenting software provider on issues with the platform. In the meantime, if you're not able to see comments after logging in to our site, please try refreshing the page.

You can comment on most stories on The Winnipeg Free Press website. You can also agree or disagree with other comments.
All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or digital subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

Have Your Say

Comments are open to The Winnipeg Free Press print or digital subscribers only. why?